Re-reading Gendered Space at Ko‘a and Household Shrines on Hawai‘i Island and O‘ahu

Abstract

This article analyzes paired stone monuments on Hawai‘i Island and O‘ahu as gendered. Archaeological and ethnographic contexts are provided. Differing knowledge systems collided from the moment of contact, oversimplifying female space and worship into rigid Western binaries and overlooking the variability of agency. A critical re-reading of the sources demonstrates instead great variability in form and function of religious sites, male and female gods and worship practices, and protocol among chiefs and commoners. The argument is developed that balance is reflected on the Hawaiian built landscape through the variability in the way people designed and used their spaces, diverging from stated ideals but without subverting the system. Similar gender-free agency is reflected in contemporary Hawaiian notions of mana and ea loosely translated as “flowing life forces” and “breath” which fill Hawaiian land/‘āina and wahi kūpuna with life and pulse in their living descendants. The conclusions highlight parallel collaborative projects in other parts of the world to bring to attention that Hawai‘i takes part in a global resurgence of Indigenous knowledge systems.